Is this a realistic plan?

reader

I'm currently a level 4 student who works in practice, and I was wondering if my MIP plan, below, makes any sense? :

1) Finish budgeting, financial performance and the project by June 2012
2) Finish ATT by June 2013
3) Buy and learn how to use VT, taxcalc and moneysoft by December 2013
4) Incorporate, get insurance and MIP status by December 2013
5) Start advertising by December 2013
6) Start trading in January 2014?

Are there any major elements that I'm missing?

Also, would I be right in assuming I would need around £2,500 of capital to start up my own business?
AAT membership ~£150
ATT membership ~£200
MIP licence ~£250
Insurance ~£150
VT ~£200
TaxCalc ~£400
Moneysoft ~£150
Printer, stationary, advertising ~£1,000

Thanks in advance for your constructive criticism

T.C.

Good to see that you have a plan - good luck with it.
However, I don't think you would need that much capital to start up - £1,000 on stationery etc seems excessive and do you think you would need all that software to start up? What type of work are you hoping to do? You could always go AAT MIP and start working whilst studying for ATT, if that's the way you want to go. Good luck with it all.

guinea pig

Good Luck Reader,
Things that you may also need;
Website
Premises (unless working from home)
Office furniture
Advertising; £1,000 may not go very far, and will need to be spent regularly whilst getting established (check local papers etc)
Membership local commerce/networking groups
GP

paulstafford

Have you put aside any funds to pay for your living expenses whilst you are building up your Practice? It may take a fair old while before you will be in a position to start paying your self a decent salary.

reader

Thanks for all the positive responses

I'm planning on offering bookkeeping & VAT (on VT), final accounts (again, on VT), payroll (on moneysoft) and personal & business tax (on taxcalc).

Re stationery and advertising, I would probably be interested in business cards, leaflets, a website, letterheads, payslips, bound accounts, advertising, etc.

I would probably need to put aside another £500 or so for sundry expenses, e.g. CCH calls, phone & travel expenses, electronic storage for taking backups.

I think I'd probably wait until 2014 to trade in order for me to gain another 2.5 years more experience at work.

Re: funds, I think I would probably work full-time while I'm building up my practice on the evenings + weekends, and then I think I would go part-time and then finally leave my job as my practice grew.

Again, thanks for all your kind and helpful comments

burg

Nice to see you have a plan. Do consider whilst working in practice, that if you have your own practice this may be seen as gross misconduct.

Moneysoft doesn't require payslips it has them built in so you can print direct to paper or email direct to clients.

Electronic offsite backup can be had for free from a number of providers i.e. iDrive.

Best of luck.

reader

Thanks, Ian

Fortunately most people in my practice have private clients, one even has a limited company.